Due to the country’s entry into an aged society, an increase in life expectancy and income growth, there has been a growing interest in medical and health care among modern people. Moreover, their awareness of health has also changed into the manage...
Due to the country’s entry into an aged society, an increase in life expectancy and income growth, there has been a growing interest in medical and health care among modern people. Moreover, their awareness of health has also changed into the management and promotion of health in terms of prevention of illness, not merely the absence of disease. In this light, the mass media are providing various and in-depth information through health-related sections and programs. Meanwhile, in Jeju, general hospitals and local dailies have concluded an agreement to conduct heath campaigns through newspapers to provide correct health common sense and medical knowledge to support local residents’ healthy lives. In this regard, this study investigated the characteristics of the health campaigns through a comparison of related articles in the Hallailbo with Jeju National University Hospital and the Jemin Daily with Cheju Halla General Hospital. The analysis period was five years from the point in time when the two newspapers started the health campaigns, and an analysis of the heath campaign agendas and image provision types was conducted on a total of 333 articles about the health campaigns. First, the analysis of the health campaign agendas in the newspapers found that both the Hallailbo and the Jemin Daily provided more ‘medical information’ about diseases compared to ‘health information’ related to a healthier life. In addition, the results of the analysis on diseases confirmed that the two newspapers dealt mostly with cancers, followed by musculoskeletal diseases, otolaryngology, cerebral nervous system, endocrine system, circulatory system, digestive system, respiratory system and urinary system disease. The analysis results of non-disease items among the medical information agendas showed that an introduction to hospitals constituted the highest proportion, followed by medical science and medical devices. Looking at the results by newspaper, articles on hospital promotion which introduce specialized operations and surgical procedures, and deal with hospital policy and performance made up the largest number. In relation to the health information agendas, current issues/seasonal information/life information made up the highest number, followed by health habits/management/exercise/obesity/diet, pregnancy/birth/childcare, mental health, and finally beauty. In addition, both newspapers were found to provide the largest number of articles about current issues/seasonal information/living environment. Second, in relation to the image provision of health campaign articles, images were used in most of the articles. It is believed that the images are used as devices to help the public understand the medical information dealt with in articles about the health campaigns. Both newspapers used an average of two images per article, which were mainly provided by hospitals. The types of images provided were pictures of doctors, disease/image pictures, reference picture, health screening/checkup/medical treatment pictures, graphic images, and remedy/procedure/surgery scenes in the order of the frequency of use. To be more specific, disease/image pictures were used most in the Hallailbo, whereas pictures of doctors were used most in the Jemin Daily. Overall, this study has its significance in that it is difficult to find a case in which general hospitals and news agencies enter into an agreement to jointly plan and provide articles about health campaigns. It is also meaningful that this study attempted to examine articles about health campaigns provided by local daily newspapers in a situation where an analysis of health campaign articles is mainly conducted on major national daily newspapers. In addition, this study has a practical significance in that it presents a future direction for health reports based on the findings of research. Key words: Health campaign, Health report, Health information, Medical information